PC: North American Agrivoltaics Awards
In 2017, Arlo Hark and Josie Trople founded Cannon Valley Graziers in Northfield, Minnesota, as a dedicated solar grazing operation. The business has now grazed more than 6,500 acres of solar farms for developers, operators and owners, according to the North American Agrivoltaics Awards. The pair have been named the 2026 Solar Ranchers of the Year.
Its flock rotates across dozens of sites each season in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, with further sites in the western and central United States. The company offers Solar Grazing, Vegetation Management and Forestry Restoration, and has two sister ventures, Tethera and Bayl. The business started in the upper Midwest. Cannon Valley Graziers now rotates its flock across dozens of sites each season in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, and also grazes solar farms further afield in the western and central United States.
Both turn the flock’s vegetation-management work into finished products, so that the business draws on food, renewable fibre and fashion, and grazing. The couple have launched two sister ventures: Tethera, which focuses on meat, and Bayl, which focuses on renewable fibre. Arlo and Josie, as younger farmers with a young family, say their experience shows that solar grazing can give the next generation of agricultural producers access to working land. It names land access as a problem that prevents many would-be farmers and ranchers from getting started.